Configuration Wizard

When AweSync is installed for the first time, you will be offered to pass through the configuration wizard to enable synchronization quickly in the step by step manner.

Please follow these steps:

1. Select AweSync user interface language. Setting can be changed later if needed.
   

   

2. Check if you want your calendars to be synchronized, and select the synchronization mode.
   

   

3. Define your Google credentials. It is recommended to use full email address instead of just a user name. Also, change proxy settings if required to connect to the Internet.
   

   

4. Select Google calendars to be synchronized. Select default calendar, which will be used to push events from Lotus Notes, if they're not explicitly assigned to a specific Google calendar through category name. You can also enable mapping of Lotus Notes alarm notification into Google SMS notification, if the latter is enabled in your Google Calendar settings.
   

   

5. Check if you want your contacts to be synchronized, and select synchronization mode.
   

   

6. Please select how you want AweSync to handle your contacts during the first synchronization. If you select "Merge" option, AweSync will consolidate contacts from both data sources, so if you have same contacts on both sides, you will need to clean up duplicates manually then. However, this is the safest option. "Remove and overwrite" options will delete all contacts on one end, and replace them with contacts from another, so please use them accurately to ensure data safety. You can also back up your Lotus Notes address book contacts by making it's copy, and your Google contacts by exporting them prior to performing initial synchronization.
   

   

7. Check if you want your tasks to be synchronized, and select synchronization mode.
   

   

8. Check Google tasks list(s) to be synchronized.
   

   

9. Define Lotus Notes credentials. Please note that you cannot choose ID file manually, when you're using single user installation of Lotus Notes under Windows Vista or Windows 7. Please refer to FAQ for details.
   

   

10. Define your Lotus Notes Mail and Calendar database or if values were detected correctly, leave them as they are.
    

    

11. Check if you want your Notebook to be synchronized, and select the synchronization mode. During the first synchronization of Notebook between Notes and Google Docs, AweSync will create a new folder in Google Docs named "Lotus Notes Notebook", to where Notebook entries from Notes will be synchronized as Documents. When synchronizing from Google to Notes, AweSync will synchronize only documents found in the folder "Lotus Notes Notebook", so if you will be doing one-way sync from Google to Notes and you do not have the folder with this name in Google Docs, you'll need to create it first and place there the Documents you need to synchronize. Please note that only synchronization of Documents is supported - nor Spreadsheets, neither Presentations will be synchronized. Also, keep in mind that in current release formatting is preserved only when Notebook entries created in iNotes are synchronized to Google Docs one-way only. In all other cases all formatting will be transformed to plain text. For example, if you have a Document in Google Docs folder "Lotus Notes Notebook" with formatting, and then edit it, then upon synchronization to Lotus Notes all formatting will be lost. Or, in another example, if you have your Notebook locally in Lotus Notes client, and synchronize it to Google Docs, it will show without formatting as a plain text in Google Docs. And if you modify it on Google Docs side with two-way synchronization enabled, triggering pushing changes from Google Docs to Lotus Notes, this will also make you loose the formatting upon next synchronization.
    

    

12. Define your Lotus Notes Notebook database and its location.
    

    

13. This step is optional if you want to use a trial version, so you can just hit 'Next' in this case. 'Buy Now' button opens the order section of our website, if you want to buy a license key. If you have already purchased your product license key, you can activate it on this screen. Please enter the key into a Product Key field, and hit 'Next', which will perform the activation process against our activation server. The activation is performed with the code, calculated as irreversible hash of your Lotus Notes user name. From licensing perspective this means that activation is tied to your Lotus Notes user name, and hence you can activate as many copies of the software as needed for the same user name. Security-wise this means that your user name is not passed anywhere outside your computer, and only a hash and product key are transmitted and tied together during the activation.
    

    

After the configuration wizard steps are complete, you can open advanced settings by clicking the 'Settings' button. You can also re-start the configuration wizard at any time by clicking 'Configuration Wizard' button in the settings window.

AweSync Settings & Synchronization

You can open Settings window using same name button from the main application window, or from the right-click tray menu.

• General
  • Network
  • Lotus Notes ID
  • Google Account
  • Updates
  • Activation
• Calendar
  • Lotus Notes
  • Google
  • Privacy
• Contacts
  • Lotus Notes
  • Filtering
• Tasks
  • Google
• Notebook
  • Lotus Notes
• Synchronization
  • Command Line

 

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General

Here you can:

• Enable automatic synchronization and set up the sync period in minutes. You can also enable and disable the automatic synchronization from the tray menu. Click "More..." button to set synchronization timeframe.
  

  

• “Autorun on Windows startup” is quite self explanatory and should be enabled if you use application continuously, and need it started as soon as you log into the operating system.
• You can also choose to start AweSync minimized.
• Enable “Minimize to tray on closing” if you would like to hide the application instead of closing it when clicking on the “Close” window button.
• Statistics balloon can be enabled to be shown after sync, if any items were added, modified, or removed.
• You can change double-click action from default hide/show window to start/stop synchronization.

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Network

• By default AweSync uses the SSL connection to Google, but you can disable this if you're experiencing problems connecting via SSL.
• Showing balloon pop-up if network is unavailable option can be disabled, which can be useful for netbook users, who have smaller screens, and are frequently in places without network connection.
• Balloon pop-up if Notes database is unavailable option can also be turned off.
• You can select between direct Internet connection, using your Internet Explorer proxy settings, or manual proxy settings, depending on your particular network configuration.

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Lotus Notes ID

• Current Lotus Notes ID file will be selected in AweSync by default, but you can change it manually. Please note that manual selection of ID file is unavailable in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• You should enter the password for the specified ID file.
• “Check Credentials” button can be used to verify connectivity and authentication to the specified mail file.
• Interop Version options are intended to be used only if you were experiencing problems with running AweSync, and were advised to do so by our support specialist. This usually happens when Domino COM model cannot be detected properly for some reason.

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Google

• You need to specify the Google account username and password.
• Click “Check Credentials” button to verify your connectivity and authentication to Google.

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Updates

AweSync checks for update in the following cases by default, however this can be disabled if needed.

• When AweSync starts.
• On a daily basis.

You can also check for update manually.

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Activation

Here you can activate AweSync if you have already purchased your product license key.

• Enter the Product License Key into the corresponding field.
• Click Activate button to perform the activation against our activation server.

The activation is performed with the code, calculated as irreversible hash of your Lotus Notes user name. Since activation is tied to your Lotus Notes user name, you can activate as many copies of the software as needed for the same Lotus Notes user name. Please note that your user name is not passed anywhere outside your computer, and only a hash and product key are transmitted to our activation server, and tied together there.

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Calendar

• Enable calendars synchronization if needed.
• Specify the Synchronization mode:
  • “One-way” mode transfers data only in one direction (for example from Lotus Notes to Google).
    • Also you can specify the conflict handling policy – the rules about what to do if system finds that the previously synchronized calendar entry has different contents in source and in the destination. If you choose “Always overwrite”, the entries will be overwritten regardless any differences between them. If you specify “Overwrite with newer data”, the AweSync will overwrite the entry only if it has older data.

  

  • “Two-way” mode transfers data in both directions. The conflict handling here has 3 options:
    • Latest wins: when the AweSync finds that previously synchronized entry has been changed in Lotus Notes or Google, it will update the older version with the newer data.
    • Lotus Notes overwrites Google: in case of conflicts always overwrite Google calendar entries with Lotus Notes entries.
    • Google overwrites Lotus Notes: in case of conflicts always overwrite Lotus Notes calendar entries with Google entries.

To learn more about Synchronization modes check Synchronization modes and Conflict handling.

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Lotus Notes

• AweSync will automatically detect your server and mail database file based on your location settings, but you can set them manually.
• Storing Google calendar name in "Category" field is selected by default, so you can easily distinguish events from different Google calendars in Lotus Notes. You can disable this, if you plan to use "Category" field for some other purposes in the events coming from Google Calendar.
• "Exclude events created by Add iCalendar Feed" option is designed for those, who subscribe to other calendars via respective feature of Eclipse-based Lotus Notes client, and don't want to synchronize events created by these subscriptions.

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Google

• Select your Google Calendars to be synchronized with Lotus Notes.
• Select Default Calendar, which will be a default target to push your Lotus Notes Calendar events.
• Choose the way how to handle deletion of previously synchronized Google Calendar - either ignore, or re-synchronize events into another calendar, or just remove them from Lotus Notes.

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Privacy

"Send fields..." sections options can be used to disable synchronization of certain fields from Lotus Notes to Google or vice-versa. This may be useful for privacy purposes, or to prevent even minimum potential ability for mailing from the wrong calendar system (for example, to make sure your colleagues using Lotus Notes don't receive any notifications from Google). To disable synchronization of some field, you need to disable corresponding check-box in the section with appropriate direction - either "Lotus Notes to Google", or "Google to Lotus Notes".

Please note, that when some fields are disabled for synchronization, this field will be excluded from synchronization immediately, however it will not be cleared from those events, which were already synchronized. If sync for a field will be re-enabled again, synchronization of it for those events, for which it was previously prevented, will not be performed.

Section "Default options for events in Google Calendar" allows to setup appropriate privacy and Guests' authorities options in events coming from Lotus Notes to Google. You can also map default Lotus Notes reminders to Google SMS notification.

Section "Default privacy options for events in Lotus Calendar" allows to override default privacy of events coming from Google to Lotus Notes to force either Private or Public.

If you're using one way sync from Lotus Notes to Google, and need to make sure all your events coming from Lotus Notes to Google don't have unchecked fields synchronized, you will need to remove and re-create a Google calendar for receiving events from Lotus Notes, and perform the sync in there. See the details below.

This is an instruction on how to push all events from Lotus Notes to Google without invitees for those, who are using one way synchronization to dedicated Google calendar. It is not recommended for those, who are using different synchronization directions and options.

As you're synchronizing one way, you can try to perform a "sync from scratch" sequence of actions:

1. Delete the calendar in Google, to which you're pushing Lotus Notes events - if possible, i.e. if you don't create events in it manually (otherwise, you would need to leave this calendar, but manually delete events coming from Lotus Notes, which is a bit painful).
2. Create new empty Google calendar for receipt of events from Lotus Notes.
3. From AweSync tray icon menu select Debug -> Remove Index. Don't synchronize anything yet.
4. Change your AweSync settings to synchronize with only this new Google calendar as default (don't forget to click Retrieve button, so that new calendar appears)
5. Save settings and perform Sync All from the tray icon menu (should be performed automatically if calendars list has changed in settings).

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Contacts

• Enable contacts synchronization if needed. Please note that for compatibility with Lotus Notes 6.5 AweSync synchronizes contacts only with local Lotus Notes address book. If you want to synchronize your iNotes contacts, please setup synchronization of your iNotes contacts with a local address book.
• Specify the Synchronization mode:
  • “One-way” mode transfers data only in one direction (for example from Lotus Notes to Google).
    • Also you can specify the conflict handling policies similar to calendars synchronization.
    • You can also choose to “Restore Removed Contacts” which will restore the entries if they were deleted for some reason in the destination.

  

  • “Two-way” mode transfers contacts in both directions. The conflict handling here is similar to calendars sync and has the same 3 options:
    • Latest wins: when the AweSync finds that previously synchronized contact that is changed in Lotus Notes or Google, it will update the older version with the newer data.
    • Lotus Notes overwrites Google: in case of conflicts always overwrite Google contact with Lotus Notes ones.
    • Google overwrites Lotus Notes: in case of conflicts always overwrite Lotus Notes contacts with Google ones.
• You can skip synchronizing contacts with empty names. Google adds all your senders and recipients to your contacts automatically, so this options helps to exclude these from synchronization, until you explicitly edit and specify at least their name (as well as other details).
• Processing of contacts on the first run option is available only if you didn't run contacts synchronization yet. You can merge them all together, and then manually clean them up if duplicates appear. Or you can remove all contacts on one end (ex. in Google), and then pull all contacts from the other (ex. from Lotus to Google).

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Lotus Notes

• By default contacts are synchronized with your Lotus Notes local address book specified in preferences, usually names.nsf.
• You can choose an option to synchronize contacts with your mail database specified in your calendar or tasks AweSync settings (available only if Calendar or Tasks synchronization is enabled). This option is usable for those, who synchronize local contacts with their mail file from several locations, or are used to maintain their contacts via the Web in iNotes.
• Finally, you can choose an option to synchronize with manually specified address book (you should ensure that this is either an address book or mail file database by design).
• You can select which groups of Lotus Notes should be synchronized with Google groups: Lotus Notes categories, Lotus Notes groups, or both.
• You can select the option to move Lotus contacts to My Contacts group in Google calendar.

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Filtering

• By default all contacts are synchronized, but you can disable this.
• You can then select if you want to synchronize contacts without defined category or group.
• In the boxes below you can select Google system groups (like My Contacts, Friends, Family, Coworkers) and Lotus Notes categories of contacts to be synchronized.
• If some categories will be added in future and are not yet present in this list, you can enable to synchronize these as well.

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Tasks

• Enable tasks synchronization if needed.
• Specify the Synchronization mode:
  • “One-way” mode transfers data only in one direction (for example from Lotus Notes to Google).

  

  • “Two-way” mode transfers data in both directions. The conflict handling here has 3 options:
    • Latest wins: when the AweSync finds that previously synchronized entry has been changed in Lotus Notes or Google, it will update the older version with the newer data.
    • Lotus Notes overwrites Google: in case of conflicts always overwrite Google entries with Lotus Notes entries.
    • Google overwrites Lotus Notes: in case of conflicts always overwrite Lotus Notes entries with Google entries.
• You can select to skip synchronization of tasks with empty subjects in Google.
• It's possible to not synchronize tasks, which were marked as completed more than specified number of days ago.

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Google

• Select your Google Tasks Lists to be synchronized with Lotus Notes.
• Select Default Tasks List, which will be a default target to push your Lotus Notes To Do's.
• Choose the way how to handle deletion of previously synchronized Google Tasks List - either ignore, or re-synchronize To Do's into another calendar, or just remove them from Lotus Notes.

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Notebook

• Enable notebook synchronization if needed.
• Specify the Synchronization mode:
  • “One-way” mode transfers data only in one direction (for example from Lotus Notes to Google).



• “Two-way” mode transfers data in both directions. The conflict handling here has 3 options:
  • Latest wins: when AweSync finds that previously synchronized entry has been changed in Lotus Notes or Google, it will update the older version with the newer data.
  • Lotus Notes overwrites Google: in case of conflicts always overwrite Google calendar entries with Lotus Notes entries.
  • Google overwrites Lotus Notes: in case of conflicts always overwrite Lotus Notes calendar entries with Google entries.

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Lotus Notes



• Select Notebook type: you can use either Default e-mail database, or select database defined manually.
• If Defined Manually is selected, please choose Notebook path: specify database location, server and database (if required).

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Synchronization

• In the main synchronization screen click “Sync now!”:
  
• That’s it! If all the settings are correct, the synchronization will start. Otherwise the system will notify you about the problem. You can view the log by expanding corresponding section.
  
• Also, command line synchronization is supported starting from the release 4.12. To sync via command line, you need to run the file AweSyncCmd.exe (located in the folder where AweSync is installed, usually it is C:\Program Files\AweSync\) using CMD.EXE. Please note, that before using command line you need to configure AweSync via configuration wizard or settings interface, because command line commands cannot initiate sync of items not selected and properly configured in settings. For example, you can run a command to sync events only if synchronization of events is already enabled in AweSync settings. Usage examples:
  • AweSyncCmd.exe - Synchronizes all options enabled (i.e. events, contacts, tasks, notes).
  • AweSyncCmd.exe /events - Synchronizes only events if this feature is enabled.
  • AweSyncCmd.exe /contacts - Sync only contacts if this feature is enabled.
  • AweSyncCmd.exe /tasks - Sync only tasks if this feature is enabled.
  • AweSyncCmd.exe /notebook - Sync only notebook if this feature is enabled.
  • AweSyncCmd.exe /events /tasks - Synch only events and tasks if these features are enabled.

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If you need to resolve any technical problem, please post the issue to our Issue Tracking System.

If you have any questions about settings not explained here, please Contact Us.

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Synchronization Modes and Conflict Handling

What is a conflict? This is a situation when AweSync tries to synchronize 2 entries - one in Lotus Notes and another in Google - and it finds out that they both have changed since the last synchronization.

For example, you created a meeting in Lotus Notes then ran AweSync. As the result you'll have it appear in Google as well. Now if you change some field values of this meeting in both Google and Lotus Notes, this will be considered as the conflict on next synchronization.

The conflict handling policies are there to make AweSync understand what it should do in case of conflicts: which version it should leave and which one should be overwritten.

There are 2 options available in one-way mode:

• Always overwrite: overwrites the entry regardless of the modification times
• Overwrite with newer data: overwrites the target entry only if it it has been modified prior to source entry modification

There are 3 options available in two-way mode:

• Latest wins: the most recently updated version overwrites the other one
• Lotus Notes overwrites Google: in this case conflicts will be resolved by overwriting the Google version by the Lotus Notes version
• Google overwrites Notes: an opposite to the above

Important note: if an entry has changed only in one environment in two-way mode this newer version will overwrite the old one regardless of the conflict handling policies, because it is not considered as a conflict.

Here’s an example that describes how different conflict handling policies work. Suppose AweSync has completed the first synchronization. Now each entry exists in Google calendar and in Lotus Notes. These instances of one entry share the same identifier.

Now suppose that the instance was changed in both environments, but it's newer in Google calendar (more recent change):

 
Let’s see what the system will do with different synchronization settings:

1. One-way synchronization
a. Lotus Notes to Google
i. Always overwrite
This will overwrite the modified record in Google with Lotus Notes one:

 
ii. Overwrite with newer data
No changes will be done as the Google data is newer:

 
b. Google to Lotus Notes
i. Always overwrite
This will overwrite the record in Lotus Notes with modified Google one:

 
ii. Overwrite with newer data
This will overwrite the record in Lotus Notes with modified Google one as it's newer:

 
2. Two-way synchronization
a. Latest wins
This will overwrite the record in Lotus Notes with modified Google one as it's newer:

 
b. Lotus Notes overwrites Google
This will overwrite the modified Google record with Lotus Notes one:

 
c. Google overwrites Lotus Notes
This will overwrite the record in Lotus Notes with modified Google one:

 

 

Note that if the change has happened only on one side, for example, in Lotus Notes:

Then on two-way synchronization it will overwrite the other side's instance, regardless of the policy, because it is not considered as a conflict:

 

 

 

 

Haven’t found the answer to your question? Please contact us or submit an issue.

Multi-calendar Synchronization with AweSync

AweSync provides you with advanced feature for synchronizing multiple Google calendars with Lotus Notes calendar, with ability to track each synchronized Google calendar in Lotus Notes via event categories.

 To synchronize multiple calendars, simply choose them in the Google options. Select the Default Calendar: this is where the Lotus Notes events will be put to, if no category is specified for them.

 The basic principle beyond the multi-calendar synchronization is the following:

1. When the events are copied from Google calendar to Lotus Notes calendar for the first time, their categories will be set according to the Google calendar names with "Google_" prefix. For example, event from "Holidays" Google calendar will turn into event with category "Google_Holidays".
2. On the next synchronizations AweSync will attempt to synchronize each calendar with events from the corresponding category in Lotus Notes. If event in Lotus Notes has multiple categories, only the first one is considered.
3. When some event is pushed from Lotus Notes to Google, and its category is undefined or there is no corresponding calendar in Google, it will be put to the Default Calendar.

Here's the example illustrating the above rules.

1. Suppose we have created several events in different Google calendars - Dinner and Therapist appointment in Personal Calendar, and couple basketball games in Sports Events Calendar:
   

   

2. Now we've set up AweSync to synchronize Personal and Sports Events calendars with Lotus Notes, and Personal one is chosen as default:
   

   

3. After the synchronization the events will be created in Lotus Notes calendar:
   

   

   They have the corresponding categories:

   

    

   

4. Now, let's change some events in Lotus Notes - add a hockey match assigned to category "Google_Sports Events" and add "Bruce Willis' Birthday" (which is Anniversary):
   

   

5. Here's what we now have in Google after the synchronization - new hockey match is added to Google "Sports Events" calendar according to the category assigned in Lotus Notes, and actor's birthday is created in the default Google calendar (Personal):
   

   

Note: AweSync Conflict Handling Policies work with multi-calendar synchronization. In the above sample we used two-way synchronization with "Latest wins" policy.

Haven’t found the answer to your question? Please contact us or submit an issue.

Compatibility Notes

Before addressing any bug to AweSync, please read compatibility notes for Lotus Notes and Microsoft Windows, specifically Vista and Windows 7.  

Most complex compatibility issues are related with Lotus Notes COM subsystem. So, even if your Lotus Notes Client is not officially supported but successfully works with your Windows 7 or Windows Vista system, any programs which operate with Lotus Notes via COM (like AweSync) may not work.
 
Below are several links from IBM site, which describe compatibility issues and possible ways to resolve.

• Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) is fully supported by Lotus Notes since version 8.5.1 Fix Pack 1

Windows 7 ... certification testing has been completed for Notes 8.5.1 Fix Pack 1
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=475&uid=swg21385293
 

• 64-bit edition of Windows Vista is not supported by Lotus Notes 7.0, 8.0, 8.5

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&uid=swg21252343

 

• Vista with UAC (User Account Control) is supported only starting from version 8.01, but requires multi-user installation.

If Domino Designer and Administrator are installed (which requires single-user installation), then special steps during installation are required.
 Also please note, Windows 7 has the same UAC feature and it's enabled by default.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21269041

• Lotus Notes since version 6.5 - 8.0 requires special installation on Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Lotus Notes of versions and configurations which don't support multi-user installation requires installation to folder out of Program Files, for example, to C:\Lotus\Notes. This is not official IBM note, but this configuration was tested by our team.
 
 

Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting

• Installation error: configuration file is damaged
• Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not properly installed
• Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not installed on this computer
• First run error: Can't read registry settings (Single user installation)
• First run error: Can't read registry settings (Multiple users installation)
• Notes ini file not found at path: ... (single user config)
• Cannot connect to Google Calendar service
• Cannot open ID file
• AweSync deleted all my contacts
• Cannot activate AweSync
• Returned code: 403. Reason: The user has exceeded their quota, and cannot currently perform this operation
• Notes error: Unable to write to database because database would exceed its disk quota.
• Any other error

Questions

• What are the system requirements for AweSync?
• Should I buy a new license if my Lotus username is changed?
• How is my Personal Privacy protected?
• How to change notes.ini path?
• Is it possible to use AweSync along with other synchronization tool?
• Some events are not synchronized. What's wrong?
• Is it possible to make portable version of AweSync?
• I removed all entries from Google calendar, but events from Notes didn't appear. What's wrong?
• Changes in reminders are not sync'ed. Why?
• Some events were missed by sync. How can I force synchronization of these events?
• Synchronization speed is too slow. How to make it faster?
• How do I transfer Awesync to a new computer?

Contacting AweSync Support

• How to report problems to AweSync support
• How to send your data to development team

If you have any other questions not listed above, please Contact Us.

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Installation error: Configuration file is damaged

Awesync installation didn't start and throws this error. What happens and how to proceed?

Answer:

This error means, that you have corrupted records in Windows Installer database. Most probably, you removed some files form Windows\Installer folder to free up the space. This probably is done by some third-party cleaning tools.

Please  use Windows Installer cleanup tool from Microsoft, and clean installation records for Awesync. 

Then remove Awesync's installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Awesync). Your config file will remain unchanged, it is stored in your User Profile, folder %APPDATA%\Awesync

Then download fresh copy of AweSync Installer, and install it.

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Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not properly installed

Awesync installation is stopped with error "Lotus Notes software is not properly installed". What's the solution?

Answer:

Reason of this error is that Lotus Notes COM objects are not registered in Windows. This usually means, that Lotus Notes was installed by simple files copying from another computer. Also, Lotus Notes versions 6.x don't register COM objects even after  regular correct installation. To fix this error, you should perform the following:

1. Run Command Prompt. (Start / Programs / Acsessories / Command Prompt). In Vista and Windows 7 this command should be executed as Administrator (right click - Run as Administrator)

2. In Command Prompt window change directory to your Lotus Notes installation:(change to your real installation path)

cd C:\Lotus\Notes

 3. Execute the command

regsvr32 nlsxbe.dll

 Message "DllRegisterServer ... succeeded" should appear.

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Installation error: Lotus Notes software is not installed on this computer

Awesync installation is stopped with error "Lotus Notes software is not installed on this computer". What's the solution?

Answer:

Reason of this error is that Windows registry doesn't contain Lotus Notes keys. This usually happens if Lotus Notes was installed by just files copying from another computer. Notes itself may work well in this case, but any other programs which use Lotus Notes COM may be unusable.

Registry key

HKLM\Software\Lotus\Notes 

or (on x64 systems)

HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Lotus\Notes

should contain string value

Path

with correct path to your Lotus Notes installation.

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First run error: Can't read registry settings (Single user installation)

The first run after installation of AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

There may be several reasons for this error:

This is the same error as above. In older versions it was not checked by installer. Version 1.0.1.3 and above will not allow installation of AweSync until this registry setting is correct.

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First run error: Can't read registry settings (Multiple users installation)

In first run after installation AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

This means that you have multi-user installation of Lotus Notes, but registry settings doesn't correspond to Multi-user installation. Most probably, you're running Lotus Notes using only one pre-configured shortcut. In this case you're not able to run Lotus Notes by simple run of "C:\Lotus\Notes\Notes.exe" (for sure, change to your correct installation path if you are able to check this). This pre-configured shortcut should contain command line parameters like

notes.exe =C:\Folder\your_notes.ini

To fix this, you should modify registry entry (string parameter)

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\X.0\NotesIniPath

where X.0 is major version of Lotus Notes, and set value of this parameter to "C:\Folder\your_notes.ini"

For example, if your Lotus Notes version is 8.5.1 then key should be

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\8.0\NotesIniPath

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Notes ini file not found at path: ... (single user config)

AweSync shows this error. What's the solution?

Answer:

Most possible this is the same reason as above - you have pre-configured shortcut which runs your Lotus Notes. You should change type of installation to "Multi-User" and provide correct path to your notes.ini.

1. Change the following registry value to 1

HKLM\Software\Lotus\Notes\MultiUser 

or (on x64 system)

HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Lotus\Notes\MultiUser

2. Set this value to correct path to your notes.ini

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\X.0\NotesIniPath

where X.0 is major version of you Lotus Notes

For example, if your Lotus Notes version is 8.5.1 this key should be

HKCU\Software\Lotus\Notes\8.0\NotesIniPath

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Can not connect to Google Calendar service

I'm getting error "Cannot connect to Google Calendar service" while sync'ing or receiving list of calendars from Google.

At the same time Google calendar works well in the browser. How to resolve this issue?

Answer:

Most probable reason is proxy configuration in your network. AweSync uses native Google API (DLLs) to connect to calendar services, which uses standard .NET 2.0 API. So, the reason may be only in your connection and proxy settings.

Please open Control Panel / Internet Options / Connection, click button "LAN Settings". If it is configured with options "Automatically detect settings" or "Use configuration script", then this is the reason.

This Wikipedia article describes, that some PAC (Proxy Auto Configuration) files may be configured in the way which works well with browsers, but doesn't work with .NET 2.0.

To resolve the issue you should contact your IT administrators to fix PAC settings.

In case if this is not possible, ask them which exact proxy IP address and port should be used to connect to Google, then configure AweSync Manual Proxy Settings to use exact server IP & port.

Another possible issue can be if your proxy requires NTLM authorization. There is known bug in .NET Framework 2.0, that applications can't work with such proxy.

If proxy server in your network is Microsoft ISA server, you can use Firewall Client for ISA Server from Microsoft.

For another kinds of proxy, like Squid, you can install and configure free and open-source local proxy Cntlm, and then configure AweSync to use proxy server "localhost" and proxy port which you set in cntlm config.

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Cannot open ID file

I'm getting error "Cannot open ID file", but Lotus Notes works well with this ID file. How to fix this error?

Answer:

First of all, try to set "Notes options" / "ID Settings" to "Use Current ID file". In version 1.0.1.5 you need to click OK in Settings, then exit AweSync then run it again and check if this work. If it doesn't, then read further. 

 There are the following possible reasons:

• ID file name contains national characters.

  You can try to continue working with this ID file using Notes Options "Use Current ID file". If this doesn't work, please rename your ID file to make it containing only ASCII (Latin) characters in the file name.

• ID file NTFS permissions prohibit access for the user account which is used for running AweSync.

  Usually this means that Lotus Notes is run under separate specific (or Administrators) user account, but AweSync is used with permissions of regular user. You can configure AweSync to run under the same permissions as Notes, or change permissions for your ID file.

• ID file is located on a network share.

  This may cause error if you are using Lotus Notes ver. 6.5 on Vista or Windows 7. Please move ID file to a local folder.

• You are using Lotus Notes version 6.0.

  AweSync supports Lotus Notes starting from version 6.5, as described in Release Notes. The only way is to upgrade Lotus Notes version.

If you need our assistance, please provide us with the following data, so that we can check your configuration and help you fix the problem:

1. AweSync full log. You can paste the string %AppData%\AweSync\Log into your Windows explorer and attach all files from this folder to your reply message.
2. Notes.ini file with the full path to this file (it is important, since you may have several notes.ini files on your computer).
3. HKLM\software\lotus and HKCU\software\lotus registry branches (they can be exported from your registry)
4. If you use any shortcut to run your Notes, please let me know what paths it contains.
5. The path specified in the field Local application folder in menu File/Preferences/User Preferences/ in your Notes client.

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AweSync deleted all my contacts

After synchronization all my contacts were deleted. Can I restore the contacts back? What is the reason for this?

Answers:

1. Yes, you can download the special tool that will restore deleted contacts to Google (you will be able to sync them to Notes after this).

• Open the archive and run the file AwesyncContactRestorer.exe. 
• Wait until the main window of the tool appears. Then you'll be presented with the list of all deleted contacts. 
• Manage them with the program options (note that the contacts already present in Google will be displayed without checkmarks in the boxes near them).
• The contacts will be restored to Google both to their groups and to All Contacts.

2.  Here are the possible reasons why your contacts might have been deleted. 

• The option "Remove all Google contacts:." is selected during the first synchronization. Please note, that regardless of what contacts are present in Lotus Notes, all contacts from Google will be deleted prior to first synchronization. Even if there are no contacts in Notes at all, all your Google contacts will be deleted.
• The option "Remove all Lotus Notes contacts:." is selected during the first synchronization. Please note, that regardless of what contacts are present in Google, all contacts from Lotus Notes will be deleted prior to first synchronization. Even if there are no contacts in Google at all, all your Notes contacts will be deleted.
• If Two-way synchronization mode is selected, and your contacts were synced previously with Awesync, removing some contacts from Notes or Google will result in deletion of the same contacts from the other side. So, for instance, if you remove all contacts from one side, you can loose ALL your contacts, so be careful!

Note. Just in case, before synchronizing contacts it is recommended to make a copy of your local Lotus Notes address book, as well as export your Google contacts to a local file. We all know that our contacts are very important, so backup won't hurt.

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Cannot activate AweSync

I enter the product key in Activation Settings, but when I hit Activate button, nothing happens. How can I resolve the issue and get AweSync activated?

Answer:

Most possible reason is that AweSync cannot connect to the activation web site. But it's not a problem, since AweSync can be activated manually, without connecting to our server. Please perform the steps below:

1. Open the Activation screen, put the product key in, and click Activate button.
2. Send your full log files to support@awesync.com. To see log file, paste the string %AppData%\AweSync\Log into your Windows Explorer and press Enter.

We'll provide you with further instructions via e-mail shortly.

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Returned code: 403. Reason: The user has exceeded their quota, and cannot currently perform this operation

This error appears when synchronizing events, and my Lotus Notes and Google calendars do not match. What can I do to eliminate the error?

Answer:

This error is generated on Google side, and it means that their service no longer can accept modifications to calendar data via Google API, because the number of modifications to the calendar has exceeded the quota. Unfortunately, there is not so much public information available about these quotas, but there are few reasons, why they might be exceeded:

• In some cases quota is exceeded when synchronizing the events, which have too many participants (dozens or hundreds), especially if these are recurring events with exceptions.
• You have too many events, and especially too many exceptions (modifications) to the original schedule in your recurring events.

In the first case it is recommended to disable synchronization of Invitees/Guests in AweSync Calendar Privacy settings.

For the second case, the release 4.9.0 has enhanced recurring exceptions processing, which performs less transactions with Google. Also, if you're still experiencing the problem, it's recommended to specify some reasonable time-frame in AweSync Calendar settings - like 30 days before and 30 days after, or even less.

In both cases you need to wipe out and re-create your Google Calendar, if you have all needed events in Lotus Notes. To do this, please perform the steps below:

1. Disable automatic sync in AweSync if it's enabled, and make sure the sync is set from Lotus to Google one-way (again, this can be done if you have all needed events in Lotus Notes).
2. Open your Google calendar settings in Web browser, and click Delete next to the name of the calendar, with which you were synchronizing. If it's a primary one, the events in it will be removed, if it's a secondary one, the calendar will be completely erased. If it was a secondary calendar, you need to create a new one.
3. Delete AweSync index from tray icon menu Debug->Remove Calendar Index, but do not sync yet!
4. Open AweSync settings and click Retrieve to get your Google calendar lists, and make sure the right one is selected for synchronization and as default.
5. Open AweSync Calendar settings and make necessary adjustments to time-frames, or invitees synchronization as mentioned above.
6. Save the settings and run the full sync.

If it runs successfully, you can extend the time-frame to bigger values (like extend to another 30 days before and after) on a daily basis, finally getting to 0 - 0 (i.e. unlimited) in few days.

If the problem still persists, please send us full log as described here.

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Notes error: Unable to write to database because database would exceed its disk quota

This error appears when synchronizing events, and my Lotus Notes and Google calendars do not match. What is the reason for this error?

Answer:

Before starting synchronization, AweSync checks if its index can be saved in the database (to not loose it after sync session). The message you receive means that this can't be done due to a database size quota which was set on your mail file to specify the maximum size a database can attain. When a database exceeds its quota, the following message appears in the Miscellaneous Events view of the log file (LOG.NSF); "Unable to write to database - database would exceed its disk quota."

When quota is set on user mail file by default, when a mail file exceeds its quota, the Router continues to deliver mail to it, and users can update existing mail views. This ensures that users can continue to receive and read all mail sent to them. However, other applications cannot add documents to the database.

You need to either contact your administrators to enlarge your database quota, or clean up some old documents from the database to ensure there is free space in it, which can be reclaimed for new documents. Usually the index doesn't require much space, since it contains only text information about events. So you may need to have about 1 Mb, or even less, free space to store it.

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Any other error

I have other error not specified here. I posted issue to Issue Tracking System but have no answer yet. What can I do myself to resolve the problem?

Answer:

Most probable reasons of any unknown errors are:

• Wrong registration of Lotus Notes COM components. Please follow instruction here.
• Wrong or corrupted installation of Lotus Notes. Please note, that if you have any modern versions of Windows, like Windows Vista or Windows 7, then only Multi-User installation of Lotus Notes (the later version the better) will work well. If possible, try to reinstall Lotus Notes. Please read compatibility notes. We have tested all major versions of Lotus Notes from 6.5 to 8.5 on Windows versions from Windows XP SP3 to Windows 7 Corporate Edition. If you have problems with Lotus Notes COM, most probable reason is wrong installation of Lotus Notes. 
• Outdated version of Microsoft .NET framework. Please update .NET framework with all updates from Microsoft. Windows Update is good place for this.
• Your Lotus Notes mail database is corrupted. If this is your local database, make new copy of it using Lotus Notes (not by copying the file in Windows Explorer or any file manager). This will fix almost errors in NSF structure. If your database is placed on Domino server, then you (or your Domino administrators) can run this command in Domino server console: "load compact -c -D mail\yourmailfile.nsf". 

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What are the system requirements for AweSync?

Answer:

AweSync specific requirements are guided by the platform it's built on - Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (can be run with any newer version of .NET Framework as well) and uses Lotus Notes COM interface. Requirements for MS .NET can be found on Microsoft website.

As you're going to sync Lotus Notes calendar with Google, you should have already installed Lotus Notes, and your system should fit it's requirements (Lotus Notes 6.5 or later required). However, Lotus Notes has compatibility restrictions, which are described here.

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Should I buy a new license if my Lotus username changes?

Answer:

No, you should not buy a new license, for example if there is some IT re-organization, or if you simply find another job. You can transfer your license for free, if your username is changed for some reason.

Just email us at support@awesync.com with your inquiry, and we'll inactivate your product license key, allowing you to activate it again with the new username. For sure, a change should be reasonable, i.e. we should see that this is a transfer of your activation to a different username, and not a transfer of license to another person.

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How is my Personal Privacy protected?

Does the application store passwords on the local machine, or on your servers? Do you store the content of calendar items, or any other item, since the login information the application needs can retrieve emails or documents from either Google or Lotus?

Answer:

AweSync doesn't connect to our server, except for few cases mentioned below.

AweSync version 1.0.1.5 and above connects to this website to check if new versions are available, but it doesn't send any personalized information during this process. You can also disable software update check in settings.

Starting from version 2.0.0.0 when it will be possible to purchase AweSync, it will also connect to this web site for license key activation. The activation is based on the activation code, which is an irreversible hash of your Lotus Notes user name (it makes it possible to activate several copies of the software for the same Lotus Notes username from different locations). Moreover, this hash is transmitted over the SSL connection. So, activation of AweSync over the Internet does not expose any personal information.

During synchronization process AweSync connects only to your Google calendar and your Lotus Notes database. Passwords are stored in the encrypted form in your local config file in %APPDATA%\AweSync. Potentially, if hackers will be able to get this config file, they will be able to reverse AweSync code and decrypt your passwords, but this statement is true for any other cached passwords in any system. So you got to make sure there is no unauthorized access to your computer.

Moreover, you may leave Lotus password blank in AweSync settings, and Lotus Notes will ask you for it each time when you start the synchronization.

No personal data is sent or stored anywhere during the synchronization process, except for your Google calendar and Lotus Notes database, and the application log and index, which are stored on your local computer.

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 How to change notes.ini path?

I have notes.ini on network folder and not able to place it to Lotus Notes Folder. How can I setup AweSync to read notes.ini from that place?

Answer:

Follow instructions described here: Notes ini file not found at path: ... (single user config)

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Is it possible to use AweSync along with other synchronization tool?

I'd like to use  another Google-Lotus synchronization tool along with AweSync. Is this possible and what can be wrong in this case?

Answer:

No, we don't recommend this, because each tool uses it's own methods to determine correspondence between events on each side.

As the result, you may get all events duplicated or damaged.

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Some events are not synchronized. What's wrong?

Some events are not sync'd. What is the reason?

Answer:

We've never seen that event from Google was not sync'ed to Lotus Notes. So, I guess you mean that event from LN didn't appear in Google. Otherwise, please create an issue.

There are three possible reasons why Lotus Notes event may be missed in sync: 

1. Google doesn't accept your event, if it contains some improper data. Most frequently this is related to emails of meeting participants. To ensure that this is the reason, please try to disable invitees synchronization in Privacy Options in AweSync Settings, re-save that particular meeting in Notes and run sync again.

2. Lotus Notes view can't be properly updated by AweSync. Try to open Calendar view in Lotus Notes and press Shift-F9 on keyboard. View will be rebuilt. Then force AweSync to process all documents by running Sync ALL Events command.

3. Event was skipped by AweSync because it contains incorrect data in Lotus Notes. You can see skipped events by "View Changed Documents" button at the bottom of expanded AweSync' main window. If you're sure that meeting data is correct, but AweSync doesn't process it properly, please export this meeting according these instructions and attach to the issue along with full log.
 

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Is it possible to make portable version of AweSync? 

Is this possible to run AweSync from USB key and store all settings there?

 Answer:

 To use it, you should do the following:

1. Install regular version to any preferred location (on USB stick to folder U:\Awesync\, for example) and then 
2. Configure Awesync using Wizard
3. Exit Awesync
4. Move your configuration file from %APPDATA%\Awesync\settings.cfg to the same folder where binaries are installed. (U:\Awesync\settings.cfg)

After next run it will use settings from USB, and put all logs to the .\Logs subfolder on USB (U:\Awesync\Logs\ and U:\Awesync\Stats)

Installation of newer version will not overwrite your settings.

 

Also you can download this archive Awesync.zip and extract to desired location.

Please note, that archive contains empty configuration file. If you're updating your existing portable installation from this zip archive, don't overwrite the file settings.cfg, or keep it previously in a safe place.
   

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I removed all entries from Google calendar, but events from Notes didn't appear. What's wrong?

I removed all entries from Google calendar, and set the option in settings "Re-Sync with another calendar" but nothing appeared in Google. What's wrong and how to resolve this issue?

Answer:

This option works only if you were synchronized with one of  your Google calendars, but then completely removed it. Your default Google calendar (which usually have your name) can't be completely removed. If you cleared all events from (or re-created) your default personal Google calendar, this option will not work. 

In this case you should remove synchronization index using tray (notification) menu command "Debug \ Remove Index", and then perform "Sync ALL Events" - another command from tray menu.

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Changes in reminders are not sync'ed. What's wrong?

I changed text in Google reminder, but after sync it remains unchanged in Notes. Is this a bug? How to resolve this?

Answer:

No, this ia not bug, this is feature of Google API. If you modified only reminder, this event is not marked in Google as changed, hence, it is not send to "updates list", and AweSync can't determine if this event was changed.

To push changes to Notes, you can edit any other part of event (body, subject, etc). In this case Google will mark event as modified.

Another option is to perform "Full sync" using tray menu command "Sync ALL Events". It performs synchronization of all events (not only events modified since last sync session). But for sure, it can take quite longer time.

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Some events were missed by sync. How can I force synchronization of these events?

How AweSync selects events which should be sync'ed? How to force it to sync all events from my calendar?

Answer:

AweSync selects only events updated since last sync session. Versions earlier than 2.0 may miss events, which were modified by user during execution of previous sync session.

To force AweSync to sync all events (which dates are within Timeframe defined in Options), you may use command "Sync ALL Events" from menu on tray (notification) AweSync's icon.

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Synchronization speed is too slow. How to make it faster?

Speed is too slow, especially the first run. Also, log shows that index contains much more items than I have in Lotus or Google calendars.

Answer:

First sync after changing the important settings always performs full sync - the same action which is performed by Sync ALL Events command. This is done this way to avoid missing of events. So, first session will sync a lot of documents. Subsequent sync sessions (if you don't change settings) will sync only updated documents since previous session, so, it will be much faster.

Index is special list of correspondences between your Lotus Notes calendar events and Google events. It's used for determination, if event should be sync'ed, or already was sync'ed, etc. Index also store events which were deleted from one of calendars, to not push deleted documents again (for sure, if you haven't configured this behavior other way).

Most time-consuming process is working with Lotus Notes database, if it's placed on Domino server. So, if you have very large amount of LN events to be sync'ed, the best way is to create Local replica of database, perform full synchronization with 0 to 0 timeframe (unlimited), and then replicate changes back to Domino server. After this initial sync and replication you can switch Awesync settings back to working with Domino server.

Another speed dependency is your internet connection to Google. If it's too slow, try to disable secure connection (SSL/https), if it's suitable for you.
 

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How do I transfer AweSync to a new computer?

What steps should be done to transfer my AweSync installation to another computer? How do I preserve my settings during the transfer?

Answer:

To transfer AweSync to a new computer, please download and install the latest version of AweSync from our site. Then, just activate AweSync with your existing activation key. You can find the key under your account on AweSync website.

 

If you wish to preserve your settings, you can save the file settings.cfg (usually stored in %AppData%\AweSync folder) from your old computer and then place it to the same folder on your new computer.